The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science, says the creator of the World Wide Web. Talking to BBC News Sir Tim Berners-Lee said he was increasingly worried about the way the web has been used to spread disinformation.

Several industrialised countries, such as Great Britain, Spain, Australia and Italy, offer broadband speeds that on average are just below what is necessary to make good use of broadband applications, according to a study.

A host of new Web sites, including Totspot, Odadeo, Lil'Grams and Kidmondo, offer parents a chance to invite friends and family to join and contribute to a network geared to connecting them to the baby in their lives.

... The sexual awakening is happening through a booming industry for 18-and-under parties, an explosion of Internet connectivity and through Web sites like Fotolog, where young people trade suggestive photos of each other and organize weekend parties, some of which have drawn more than 4,500 teenagers. The online networks have emboldened teenagers to express themselves in ways that were never customary in Chile's conservative society.

... The errors provide a salutary lesson for investors of the power and perils of computer automation and throw a spotlight on Google's News search technology which, using "Googlebot" algorithms, scours web pages in search of news articles.

Countless federal records are being lost to posterity because federal employees, grappling with a staggering growth in electronic records, do not regularly preserve the documents they create on government computers, send by e-mail and post on the Web.

There is no need to use public money to bankroll next-generation broadband in the UK, says a report. The six-month long review of the UK's readiness for high-speed net access said the case for government intervention was "weak".

Newspaper companies risk dying "a death of a thousand cuts" if they fire staff en masse without drastically reinventing their businesses, a leading international media consultant warned Australian publishing executives this week. ... Mr Senor said newspapers needed to "innovate or die", completely reinvent the formula of the medium and "rediscover the soul of their business".

Google has begun scanning microfilm from some newspapers' historic archives to make them searchable online, first through Google News and eventually on the papers' own Web sites, the company said Monday.

Call it Google's data navy. The search and advertising company has filed for a patent that describes a "water-based data center." The idea is that Google would create mobile data center platforms out at sea by stacking containers filled with servers, storage systems and networking gear on barges or other platforms.

A team of five scientists from Australia's national ICT research centre, NICTA, are lending their wireless expertise to a collaborative European research project that aims to one day lay the foundations for a future internet.

The Reserve Bank has summoned top executives from online auction house eBay Australia and its subsidiary, PayPal, to review their alleged anti-competitive behaviour, in a meeting to be held next month.

09 September 2008

Building Britain's next generation of super-fast broadband network, which can download music in seconds and movies in minutes, will cost between £5.1bn and £28.8bn, according to the government's independent advisory group.